What is Universal Basic Income?

John McDonnel, Shadow Chancellor of the British Labour Party, has revealed at the the Davos World Economic Forum that his party are “deeply interested” in and “considering” adopting a Universal Basic Income policy. In a talk where he warned the global elite to “pay [their] taxes” and floated the idea of an accountants’ oath to reduce corruption and tax avoidance, the senior politician encouraged experiments and pilot programs regarding basic income policies.

So what is universal basic income? The policy is supported by a crowd as socially and politically diverse as Tesla and SpaceX leader Elon Musk, Facebook creator Mark Zuckerburg, Virgin franchise founder Richard Branson, and is – even now – being openly considered by left-wing political figureheads such as Bernie Sanders and Jeremy Corbyn.

Elon Musk supports a Universal Basic Income.

UBI is, in a world of (often deliberately) convoluted finances and welfare, a simple strategy. It is also not a new strategy – having been proposed in a 1797 essay by Thomas Paine – yet recent campaigns and influential supporters, partnered with successful trials in various countries, have brought the idea back into the spotlight.

Basic income involves, by its definition, the providing of a given sum of money, on a regular basis, to all citizens of a nation. The idea is that all citizens deserve an income that they can survive and live on, regardless of whether they contribute to their nation’s production or into what circumstances they were born. The purpose of the policy is to “prevent or reduce poverty and increase equality amongst citizens.”

I would strongly advise watching the following animated video, by German Youtube channel Kurzgesagt (In a Nutshell) on universal basic income.

All in all, universal basic income is a policy that has been making waves in today’s society. This, however, is not news – as the idea has circulated in the heads of governing figures and policymakers for centuries without being largely adopted. Perhaps the current surge of support will decline, as many political scientists predict, and UBI will continue to be a system exclusive to the idyll of false and unrealistic utopias.

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